Waterbury, Connecticut (CNN) – We caught up with GOP Senate candidate Linda McMahon just as the new CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corporation Poll was released showing her with a 13-point deficit–considerably larger than the 4-point hole she was in according to a Quinnipiac University survey out last week.

It was so close and yet so far for Connecticut's two Senate candidates. About a mile and a few hours separated Democrat Richard Blumenthal and Republican Linda McMahon Wednesday as they both campaigned in Waterbury.

Blumenthal stopped for some lunch and glad-handing at City Hall Cafe. The candidates could easily have crossed paths, as McMahon has frequently visited City Hall during campaign stops. Not today, though. They will see each other soon enough as they face off in their second debate Thursday morning.

Around the same time, McMahon was touring small businesses. Later, she went to New Opportunities, which provides weatherization and energy assistance, housing and shelter services and programs for the elderly.

(CNN) - Republican Linda McMahon is trying to seize the offensive in the hotly contested Connecticut Senate race, unveiling a new ad slamming Democratic state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal over distortions in his Vietnam service record.

The new ad, which will air statewide, made its on-line debut only hours before the two candidates are scheduled square off in their first debate. It raises questions about Blumenthal's credibility as a politician.

(CNN) - Linda McMahon and Richard Blumenthal step into the political ring Monday night for their first face-to-face showdown in the fight for the Senate seat long held by Connecticut Democrat Chris Dodd.

McMahon, the former chief executive of pro-wrestling's World Wrestling Entertainment and the GOP Senate nominee, and Blumenthal, Connecticut's longtime Democratic attorney general, will share the same stage in Hartford for their first debate.

The debate comes as recent polling indicates the race is now a dead heat.

Washington (CNN) - The Democratic Senate nominee in Connecticut is seizing on remarks made by his Republican opponent, Linda McMahon that seemed to suggest she would consider lowering the minimum wage.

Richard Blumenthal's campaign launched a new ad Friday charging that McMahon "took home $46 million dollars, and now she's talking about lowering the minimum wage."

In the ad, which also goes after McMahon's tenure as CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, a narrator says, "Linda McMahon has always put herself, and her profits, first."

McMahon's campaign was quick to respond.

"Dick Blumenthal is a lifelong politician who has no idea how to create jobs…We know he's a fighter, the problem is he's fighting for higher taxes and more government," McMahon spokesman Ed Patru said in a statement.

(CNN) - Former pro-wrestling executive Linda McMahon has closed the gap against Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal in the state's contentious Senate race, according to a new poll.

A Quinnipiac University survey released Tuesday indicates that McMahon, the GOP nominee, trails Blumenthal, the Democratic standard bearer, 49 to 46 percent among likely voters, with four percent undecided. Blumenthal's three point advantage is within the poll's sampling error, and is down from a six-point margin in a Quinnipiac survey from two weeks ago.

(CNN) - Connecticut Republican Senate candidate Linda McMahon is ignoring a request from Ted Kennedy, Jr., the nephew of President John F. Kennedy and son of the late Senator, to remove an ad in which she uses a clip from one of the late president's speeches.

The online ad, entitled "A Good Idea– Then and Now," features President Kennedy in 1963 speaking about tax cuts as a way to prevent a recession.

Obama, in Connecticut Thursday to headline a fundraiser for state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic Senate nominee, brought up McMahon, a former pro-wrestling executive.

"I understand she has promised a 'smackdown'. That is what she said. And, look, there's no doubt, I can see how somebody who's been in professional wrestling would think that they're right at home in the United States Senate - if they were watching some of the behavior that's been going on. But the truth is - and Dick understands this - public service is not a game," said Obama.